As an Instructor, I am blessed to work as a part of a team of pretty impressive guys. Often I am asked by students, "so what is your background"? That's a fair question. Obviously, I am not close to being the guys I work with. I often joke that I am a 50-something year old grandmother who found herself thrown in with a bunch of Special Operations Military Guys and SWAT cops wondering how exactly that happened. And yes, that can be pretty intimidating, however, I do believe I bring certain gifts to the organization that they do not. I have my place, and they have their's and together we make a pretty good team.
I have no Military or Law Enforcement background. I am not a super Ninja Tactical dude. I am not a lot of things. I do have a background in teaching and leadership. I've spend the past 30 years or more working in that capacity. I've lead mission teams for a number of years. As far as education, I have studied as a graphic designer and my major at Miami University was in Psychology.
For the past 6 years I have led the North Cincinnati Chapter of TWAW Shooting Chapters. I was one of those leaders who have been there pretty much since the beginning of that organization. I've served as the State Leader for that organization and was selected as the Regional Trainer, overseeing the training of the Instructors in Kentucky and Ohio. I had to reluctantly step down from that position because I simply don't have the time to do everything I would like to do. A lot of us are like that - we like to do everything and then realize we have limited amount of time.
Those who know me well know that I'm a firm believer in training. I don't train because its my job. I train for the same reason many others train - to be as ready as I possibly can be if I am ever faced with having to defend myself or my family from a violent attack. Yes, I've done some Instructor Training to be able to be the best Instructor I possibly can be, but the majority of my training is for my own personal benefit. I've made it a priority to train with the best I can find and afford, even if it means loading up the truck and heading across country on my own. It has paid off! I have been very blessed to learn from some truly amazing and talented people. Among the folks I've leaned from and classes taken are:
- OPOTA Private Security
- NRA Basic Pistol Instructor
- NRA Personal Protection Inside the Home Instructor
- NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home Instructor
- NRA Defensive Pistol
- NRA Chief Range Safety Officer
- TWAW Certified Instructor (which focuses on the different learning styles of men and women)
- UTM (Ultimate Training Munitions) Instructor
- Gabby Franco - Olympic shooter and competition shooter who appeared on Top Shot.
- Massad Ayoob
- Defensive Knife with Greg Ellifritz
- Contextual Handgun: The Armed Parent/Guardian with Melody Lauer and John Johnston
- Unthinkable: Understanding the Criminal Mindset with William Aprill
- Defensive Pistol classes (I've forgotten how many) with Rick Wright, an OPOTA Instructor and Retired Law Enforcement Officer
- FASTER - a training program for armed school staff at the Tactical Defense Institute
- Gunsite Academy
- Battleline Tactical - Kris "Tanto" Paronto and Dave "Boon" Benton were two of the CIA security contractors who was part of the CIA annex security team during the 2012 terrorist attack on the US Ambassador to Libya and the CIA Compound in Behghazi.
- OTOA Combat Pistol with Russ Lyons
- And of course, multiple courses with 88 Tactical of OH with Phil Chaney, a retired Marine CWO3 and Special Operations Instructor in the Marine Corps and SWAT Instructor..
As you can see, I don't have that much of a "background", but I do work hard to be prepared to defend myself and those I love. I hope you are doing the same.
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